Ideas to Celebrate Volunteers

Below is a list of ideas, both big and small, to celebrate and show appreciation to your volunteers.

• Luncheon or breakfast
• Create and recognize volunteers for awards or hours of service
• Zoom social
• Social media posts and shout outs to recognize volunteers on a broad platform
• Newsletter at the end of the volunteer week summarizing the awards, pictures and highlights from the volunteers
• Emails to keep volunteers up to date on what is happening at the hospital, including challenges to be active and engage
• Create a collage of HOPE: a big picture of the word of HOPE filled in with pictures of people
• Virtual opportunities
• Mail gift cards to encourage attendance or participation in volunteer week activities
• E-card
• Socially distanced outdoor picnics
• Pen pal program where patients write about themselves and a volunteer writes back to them
• Department managers mail notes to volunteers
• Offer opportunity for the community to adopt a unit and show their support for staff by bringing in snacks, lunch, thank you cards, etc.
• Appreciation cards: Teens write cards of encouragement for the hospital staff and place the cards on windshields of employee cars in the garage
• Offer the COVID-19 vaccine to volunteers
• Drive through for volunteers creating a safe way to engage
  • Candy cane lane (Holiday theme)
  • Open event for a window of time (ex: 11am - 1pm)
  • Provide gift boxes of various local products supporting local businesses (local coffee, hot sauce, pickles, toffee)
• Virtual week with a focus for everyday, such as Trivia Tuesday with questions about the hospital, Wellness Wednesday focusing on how to stay safe during the pandemic, Thankful Thursday and we took to social media and Flashback Friday where we shared memories and stories from over the years.
• Offer services to help volunteers: errands, childcare, tutoring
• Hospital board directors call volunteers to personally thank them for their service.